Charities Fraud: Prevention better than cure

Fraud is not rife in the non profit sector. However, having worked on a number of fraud investigations over the years, my experience is that it is naïve to believe that people would not sink to defrauding a charity. The very nature of many non profit organisations' operating environment often means that there is possibility and scope for fraud.

Types of fraud

In the charity world, fraud is usually carried out through misappropriation or theft. Simplistically, this can be divided into three kinds.

1. Fraud of diversion
2. Frauds of extraction
3. Backhanders and inducements